Posts Tagged water conservation

Self Watering Raised Bed Gardens

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In an effort to reduce water usage out of doors, but still be able to garden, one option is a self watering container.  They are an excellent choice because the water is contained under the plant and therefore does not evaporate and is available to the plant 24/7, which makes over or under watering impossible.  As long as the water reserve has water in it, the plant takes what it needs when it needs us and pretty much cuts the human out of the equation all together.  Which brings me to my next point.  Self watering containers free up your time.  Instead of being a slave to watering the garden, you just make sure the containers are kept full and that is all you have to do.  While you can use a drip or soaker system on a timer, these methods take more effort to install and the squirrels love to reek havoc on drip system parts.  Luckily, they cannot do much damage to a self watering container.

So if these self watering containers are so fabulous, why isn’t everyone using them?  Well, price is a big obstacle.  They are fairly expense when compared to other types of containers of a similar size.  Plus, what if you want to make a raised bed veggie garden for instance?  The amount of containers you would have to buy would be extensive.  So what is the solution?

A self watering raised be garden of course.  I found this video over at mylittlehomestead.com, where they show how they made a self watering raised bed garden using a 55 gallon drum cut in half.  Genius!  Why didn’t I think of that?  Here is the video.
 

I think this is a fabulous way to have your cake and eat it too. All the benefits of a raised bed garden combined with the benefits of a self watering container. What could be better? If you try this in your garden, let us know! Send us pictures or video and we will post it here on the blog. Also if you discover how to make any improvements to this design, let us know. I will be trying this in my own garden. I think it would be great.

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Posted in: Edible Landscaping, From the Office, Garden, gardening, Raised Bed Gardens, Re-purposing, Recycling, The Garden, Water Conservation

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Stage 1 Conservation

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The June bills have been mailed and the Stage One water conservation rates will be in effect.  What does this mean for you?  Not much.  Since we use a tiered rate system, the rates in Stage One do not increase until the 18,000 to 24,000 gallon level.  Most customers will not see an increase in their bill unless they use a large amount of water, so most customers will not notice the increase.  If you use less than 18,000 gallons each billing period, your rates will not increase.

Remember, Stage One is voluntary compliance.  We are asking you to conserve water whenever possible.  By conserving water voluntarily now, that means there will be more water later and conserving now could possibly mean that moving into Stage 2 could be delayed or possibly avoided altogether.  Our goal here at the Pine Cove Water District is to be sure that there is always an adequate amount of water for everyone.  If we work together, we can get through these tough water times.

We have water saving kits available here in the office, free to all Pine Cove water customers.  Just stop in and ask for yours today.  Our office is located at 24917 Marion Ridge Road here in Pine Cove.  We are right next to the fire station.  Our blog and website also offer many excellent tips and suggestions for saving water indoors as well as outdoors.  So we hope you will comply and voluntarily conserve water.

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Posted in: Around the District, Billing, Community, Drought, From the Office, Water Bills, Water Conservation

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Drought

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As everyone is aware, the drought we are currently engulfed in is statewide and does not just affect us here on the hill.  The state of California has a website dedicated to the drought and has a lot of information regarding this situation.  Here is the website in case you would like to check it out for yourself.

http://ca.gov/drought

There is all sorts of information on the drought and all that is being done.  It is well worth spending some time there reading up on what is happening throughout the state.

On April 22, 2014, the State Water Resources Control Board approved $4 million in funding.  However, these funds are to provide interim replacement drinking water for economically disadvantaged communities with contaminated water supplies.

Occasionally, the topic of applying for grant money comes up from the public.  What they don’t realize is that the money is not just there for the taking.  There is very specific criteria that needs to be met and here at the Pine Cove Water District, we have excellent quality water and therefore, we do not qualify for these emergency monies.

We do check for grants on a daily basis and should something open up that we do qualify for, we will definitely apply .

In the meantime, we trust that the wonderful folks of Pine Cove will continue on with their water saving ways.

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Posted in: Around the District, Conservation, Customer Infomation, Drought, Water Conservation

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Fire Safety Muster

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The Mountain Communities Fire Safe Council is having their third annual Fire Safety Muster on Saturday, April 26, 2014, from 10:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. at the Idyllwild Community Center Site in the center of town.  This is a very important event because it provides mountain residents with information that they need in order to get ready for the upcoming fire season.

There will be many local and government agencies there to share information with everyone.  One of the featured attractions will be the U.S. Forest Service’s popular K-9 demonstration.  Other agencies will demonstrate activities and safety procedures throughout the day.  The Idyllwild Fire Department will demonstrate an extrication of a person from an automobile and several other fire agencies, including Cal Fire/Riverside County Fire Department and the Forest Service, will demonstrate hose lays.

Pine Cove Water District Booth

Pine Cove Water District Booth

MCFSC’s Woodies unit will be present and demonstrate how to split wood safely and some local tree contractors will demonstrate tree cutting.  You will also be able to register your telephone number, including cell phone numbers, with the Emergency Warning System.  If an evacuation were issued during a fire, this system will leave a message on every phone number registered within the affected area.

The Riverside Mountain Rescue Unit has agreed to demonstrate a rescues provide they aren’t called up to do a real rescue as has happened at the last two musters.  Many other participants, including yours truly, the Pine Cove Water District will be on hand with booths full of pertinent information.  Food and beverages will be available on site throughout the day.  So be sure to head on over to the muster and learn more about fire prevention, abatement, water conservation and much more.

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Posted in: Community, Customer Infomation, Fire Abatement, Mountain Communities Fire Safe Council

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Friday Happenings

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Edison has turned off the electricity here on the hill.  It should be off until about noon.  They are working on upgrading the system and everyone was given advance notice.  This is a planned outage and there is nothing wrong and there is no problem.

The weather has warmed up slightly and it is about 40 degrees this morning.  The sun should be back out by Sunday and temperatures should be back in the 50’s.  So, all in all, it should be a decent weekend here on the hill if you are planning a trip up.  If you are a full timer, it will be a good weekend to get a head start on some of those spring projects.  It is too bad we didn’t get more snow, but we have no control over that.

Please remember we are now in Stage I conservation.  Please conserve water whenever possible.  For more information on the Water Conservation Stages, please check the page at the top of the blog.  We also enclosed a brochure in this month’s bill explaining the different stages as well as the tiered water prices for each stage.

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Posted in: Billing, Conservation, Uncategorized, Water Bills, Water Conservation, Weather

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Finally a Storm!

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A storm finally moved in at the end of last week and according to the weather station up at the Rocky Point tank site, we received .43 inches of rain.  That is almost half an inch!  While we need much more rain and snow than this to pull us out of this drought, it is better than nothing and we will take it.

We are hoping that February and March turn out to be much wetter than January was.  However, since we don’t have a crystal ball here at the water district, we cannot predict what will happen weather wise.  What we can be sure of however, is the fact that the residents of Pine Cove have been and will continue to conserve as much water as possible.  For this we are very grateful.  When times get tough, Pine Covers really step up to the plate and do what needs to be done to get through the tough times.  We know this, because we have seen you in action.

Water conservation is an integral part of living on the hill.  We are solely dependent on our ground wells here in Pine Cove and have no back up sources of water.  We take great care to pump water from different wells throughout our district so as not to deplete any one particular area too much.  Keeping water loss and use to a minimum, will enable us to continue to provide clean, potable water to everyone here in Pine Cove.  So remember, conserve water regardless of whether or not we are in a drought.  Conserving water when we are not in a drought is like putting money in the bank for a rainy day.  Or in the case of a drought, for a sunny day.  Keep up the good work Pine Covers!

Remember to turn off your water at your customer valve anytime you leave your mountain home.

 

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Posted in: Community, Conservation, Customer Infomation, Customer Valve, From the Office, Water Conservation, Weather

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